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[Football] Keep winning or look for the easier knockout games?

What should England do on Thursday

  • Win for the momentum

    Votes: 141 77.0%
  • Lose for the greater good.

    Votes: 42 23.0%

  • Total voters
    183


Iggle Piggle

Well-known member
Sep 3, 2010
5,281
Whats the sequence for qualification from the groups if equal on points. Is it

1. Goal Difference
2. Goals scored
3. Head to Head result
4. Disciplinary record


Or a different sequence ?

1. Goal difference
2. Scored
3 fair play.

Sterling needs to get sent off for the team
 


Mtoto

Well-known member
Sep 28, 2003
1,839
1. Goal difference
2. Scored
3 fair play.

Sterling needs to get sent off for the team

We need to put out a team on Thursday filled with players that are unlikely to score at this level but might well pick up a card.

Should have taken Murray ...
 


Iggle Piggle

Well-known member
Sep 3, 2010
5,281
We need to put out a team on Thursday filled with players that are unlikely to score at this level but might well pick up a card.

Should have taken Murray ...

Stuart Pearce and Terry Butcher would have cleaned up if this were 1990 all over again. Lewis Dunk reducing his yellow card count was clearly what cost him in the end.
 


Herr Tubthumper

Well-known member
NSC Patreon
Jul 11, 2003
59,198
The Fatherland
Brazil off form were held to a draw by Switzerland. They still didn't lose. I'd rather play Switzerland than Brazil. Form is temporary, class is permanent etc.

I don't need to check the odds, Germany and Brazil are expected to have more chance than the others we could face in the quarter final (if we get there).

I still think England should concentrate their energies and focus on trying to win games than waste time worrying about numerous group permutations and the relative merits of each nation.
 






Blue Valkyrie

Not seen such Bravery!
Sep 1, 2012
32,165
Valhalla
I guarantee we will get knocked out in the last 16 match if we start to try to engineer the draw for later rounds.

Rest players by all means to guard against fatigue and heal niggles, but the team selected should go 100% for the win.
 


Napper

Well-known member
Jul 9, 2003
23,858
Sussex
Right, but assuming Brazil have won their group, and Germany haven't won theirs, finishing second in our group would mean avoiding them. That has to be a good thing. It goes without saying that if Brazil finish second in their group instead, we should try and win our group.

Our last 16 game will be against any one of the 4 from group H, and it doesn't matter much which one, they're all of a similar level. We have to hope we can win that, and if we do, we want to do whatever we can to avoid Brazil in the next game.

Brazil look pretty pony to me. They should be more worried about facing us.

Bring on whoever.
 






essbee1

Well-known member
Jun 25, 2014
4,078
If it goes down to the disciplinary record, then we need to start picking up yellow cards to go second?
Here's my idea. Three of the England players should walk on after half-time with a wasps nests hidden under
their shirts and chase the ref and two linos around the pitch with it.
 


colinz

Banned
Oct 17, 2010
862
Auckland
If it goes down to the disciplinary record, then we need to start picking up yellow cards to go second?
Here's my idea. Three of the England players should walk on after half-time with a wasps nests hidden under
their shirts and chase the ref and two linos around the pitch with it.

Or how about this idea I posted on the other thread.

That's interesting so if England v Belgium is a draw who ever has the most yellow cards is second.
Given some of the shock results I can see a laughable scenario, where finishing 2nd could potentially mean avoiding a big gun until the semis.
Belgium trying to draw, England wanting to lose. How about Joe Hart playing up front & Lingard in goal.
 


Triggaaar

Well-known member
Oct 24, 2005
49,988
Goldstone
We need to beat proper teams, lets start with Belguim
If they decide to rest their best players, they won't even count as a proper team.

Apart from worrying about the quarter final though, it does seem that it would be worth avoiding Colombia too, and we won't know the outcome of that group until a couple of hours before our game.
 






Icy Gull

Back on the rollercoaster
Jul 5, 2003
72,015
A couple of months ago I expected us to struggle to get out of the group stages. I am happy to go along with whatever Southgate chooses to do. He has the team and the country behind him and I have been impressed by him recently, having thought of him as Palace dickhead until recently :smile:
 






Bold Seagull

strong and stable with me, or...
Mar 18, 2010
29,719
Hove
Right, but assuming Brazil have won their group, and Germany haven't won theirs, finishing second in our group would mean avoiding them. That has to be a good thing. It goes without saying that if Brazil finish second in their group instead, we should try and win our group.

Our last 16 game will be against any one of the 4 from group H, and it doesn't matter much which one, they're all of a similar level. We have to hope we can win that, and if we do, we want to do whatever we can to avoid Brazil in the next game.

No one wins a world cup trying to lose a game of football. Avoid defeat, keep the momentum going. You have to play one of those teams at some point, could easily be Mexico knocking Brazil out IF we got to the 1/4 finals. You simply don't EVER go into a game of football accepting or even planning defeat - may as well slip poison into their breakfasts and contaminate their minds. Stay undefeated, build momentum and confidence, believe you can beat anyone.

The moment you set in those players minds they can afford to drop off their performance to lose a game of football because they will then be able to win games against 'lessor' teams, you may as well pack their bags for them.

If we did lose against Belgium, sure reflect on the positives ahead, but don't bloody well go out to lose the game. :facepalm:
 






Triggaaar

Well-known member
Oct 24, 2005
49,988
Goldstone
No one wins a world cup trying to lose a game of football.
Trying to lose? No one is suggesting kicking the ball in our own net. But we could rest several players. Don't tell me know one wins a world cup by resting players?

You have to play one of those teams at some point
That's like suggesting there's no such thing as an easy or tough route, which you know is wrong. And if that's not what you mean, what do you mean? I'd rather play a Brazil, Germany or Spain in the final, than play one in the quarter final, and still have the other two to come should we win.

You simply don't EVER go into a game of football accepting or even planning defeat - may as well slip poison into their breakfasts and contaminate their minds. Stay undefeated, build momentum and confidence, believe you can beat anyone.
How about if you're drawing the game, and you get a deliberate yellow to finish second in the group? You don't lose any belief.

The moment you set in those players minds they can afford to drop off their performance to lose a game of football because they will then be able to win games against 'lessor' teams, you may as well pack their bags for them.
When a big game is around the corner, all the top clubs in Premier League football rest players for a crappy game in the League Cup so that they have a stronger team available for the competitions that matter. Hell we even do it. But you're saying they've all got it wrong, they might as well pack their bags and go home.
 




colinz

Banned
Oct 17, 2010
862
Auckland
This all reminds me of the 1978 world cup, Austria v W Germany game. And the time when Steve Foster was trying to get booked or sent off so he could play in the Cup Final.
 


Kalimantan Gull

Well-known member
Aug 13, 2003
12,898
Central Borneo / the Lizard
I don't think they should do anything but try and win and try not to get bookings. A few days ago i thought a nice draw with Belgium would see us second and avoiding the potential Brazil/Germany quarter-final. BUT, we've gone and scored six to make that less likely, meanwhile Germany have every chance of winning their group and making that all an irrelevance, and Colombia now look likely to win their group and I'd be more than happy to avoid them and have Japan instead.


Finally - whatever happened to the consensus that we weren't that good and were never going to win the world cup. Its pretty irrelevant what the draw is in that case!!
 



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